Blissful Ignorance

Ignorance (or witlessness) is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge). The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult. -- Wikipedia

One of my gripes with my stepmother is that she refuses to let my dad be himself. My dad is one of those people who watches the news DAILY. I'm talking about morning and night. He also has subscriptions to many newspapers. He reads Black Enterprise, TIME, Reader's Digest, and a plethora of other magazines. In short, my dad is a guy that still has a thirst for knowledge at his age. This is a major issue for his wife. *blank stare* She thinks that he is wasting his time doing all that because none of those things has anything to do with him. *blank stare* When my dad told me this, I immediately placed her on the "basic bitch" list. (More things that I have learned from my brother have led me to believe that no amount of help will get her off this list, but I digress.) I thought that this mentality was based off the fact that she was older and has a small world mentality. I was wrong. More and more I find that this is more common than I thought....in MY age group and younger.

My parents raised me in manner that I think has benefited me over the years. The motto of the house was: "If you don't know something, look it up. There is no excuse to be ignorant." My dad encouraged reading, so there was never a shortage of newspapers, books, encyclopedias and magazines in our house. My mother was an interactive learner, so anytime we expressed interest in something, she bought everything National Geographic video on the subject. My brother took an interest in Pearl Harbor and the whole house became World War II enthusiasts (helped me out in history classes throughout my life!). I took an interest in space and the whole house was able to name all the Lucky 7 astronauts and when they took off on the first Apollo missions. But I get that everyone was not as lucky to have parents like mine.

There is a common trend that being ignorant to the happenings of the world is okay as long as it's not directly affecting them. Then those same people get upset when other people around them follow what's going on in the world. I think it's crazy to be that way, but I don't get mad people for it. I just don't get too close to you because I enjoy rational conversations on a regular basis. There is only so often that I can talk to someone on a subject (usually that they initiate), realize they know absolutely nothing on it, and try to prevent attacks on my character because I actually read up on it. As technology grows, I am amazed at how it's being misused. You go on Facebook, Twitter, and MediaTakeOut to find out "news" and spread it. Then get mad at me because I tell you it's false. There is a such thing as Google....you're on the internet all day anyway. *in my Everest College commercial voice* If you don't like some of things that the media reports, be selective and not buy into all of it. That doesn't mean that media is bullshit or that everyone else is crazy. We all just have preferences.

It's time out for people preferring to know nothing because it suits them. At least if you plan to be willfully ignorant, don't be mad at me because I like to find these things out. As my dad said, there really is no excuse.

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